Saturday, May 3, 2008

Deccan Herald - Showers leave City parched: "After a night without power, Bangalo-reans had to endure a day without water. As if to compound their misery, residents of several layouts had to wait till Wednesday evening for power to be restored.

Thanks to the BBMP’s outsourcing formula at a time when it was needed the most.

According to Palike sources, the private contractors assigned the work of clearing fallen tree trunks from the roads had failed to turn up on time. Since it was late in the night, the contractors apparently found it tough to reach the disaster zones. The actual work started only on Wednesday morning, and most harried victims had to fend for themselves till evening.

A Koramangala resi-dent, Prakash, told Deccan Herald that when he called the BESCOM’s area engineer, he discovered that there was a communication gap between the department and the Palike.

Lines restoredHowever, BESCOM officials claimed their workers were pressed into service early Wednesday morning to cut the branches, remove the snapped wires and replace them. “We have been on the job since morning.” He said that the Koramangala and Madivala regions had suffered the worst, losing about 60 electric poles, followed by 49 at BTM layout, while Ejipura, Jayanagara and Bannerghatta Road reported loss of 20, 14 and five electric poles respectively.

Water woesOn Wednesday, OMBR Layout, HRBR Layout, Kamanahalli, Pillana Garden and Machilibeta in Bangalore East were particularly hit by the water shortage. “We have not received complaints from any other area,” said BWSSB Chief Engineer, Venkataraju. “The supply will be normal in these areas and all over the City from Thursday,” he added.The BWSSB had informed the media that water will be affected all over the City as the pumping of water at the four stages of Cauvery Water Supply at Tataguni power station had to be shut down due to lack of power supply.

Abdul Subham A, Senior DGM, BEL, a resident of Veerana Garden in Fraser Town, said, “There was no stoppage of water as such. However, the usual force with which water comes was missing.”"